What is…
patriarch

In the Old Testament, this name is generally applied to the progenitors of families or “heads of the fathers” (Joshua 14:1) mentioned in Scripture, and they are spoken of as antediluvian patriachs (from Adam to Noah) and post-diluvian patriachs (from Noah to Jacob).

“Patriachal longevity presents itself as one of the most striking of the facts concerning mankind which the early history of the Book of Genesis places before us… There is a large amount of consentient tradition to the effect that the life of man was originally far more prolonged than it is at present, extending to at least several hundred years. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese exaggerated these hundreds into thousands. The Greeks and Romans, with more moderation, limited human life within a thousand or eight hundred years.

The Hindus still farther shortened the term. Their books taught that in the first age of the world man was free from diseases, and lived ordinarily four hundred years; in the second age the term of life was reduced from four hundred to three hundred; in the third it became two hundred; in the fourth and last it was brought down to one hundred.” —George Rawlinson, Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament, 1871